Distributed Multi-UAV MARL for Joint Relay Connectivity and Aerial Sensing in Post-Disaster Networks

Distributed Multi-UAV MARL for Joint Relay Connectivity and Aerial Sensing in Post-Disaster Networks | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Distributed Multi-UAV MARL for Joint Relay Connectivity and Aerial Sensing in Post-Disaster Networks Yuqun Yang, Yanxia Zhou, Zhaba Zhaxi This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8771054/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In post-disaster scenarios where terrestrial communication infrastructure is partially damaged, a unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) swarm must jointly maintain end-to-end connectivity while collecting uplink data from ground users and performing aerial imaging over designated target areas. This paper proposes a relay-assisted multi-UAV system model and formulates the joint relaying–uplink reception–target imaging decision-making problem as a multi-objective optimization over connectivity reliability, communication performance, and sensing coverage under UAV mobility constraints. To solve the resulting high-dimensional coupled control problem, we develop a distributed multi-agent reinforcement learning framework in which each UAV learns a decentralized policy from local observations, guided by a carefully shaped reward that enforces connectivity continuity and balances communication–sensing trade-offs. Extensive simulations demonstrate that the proposed approach consistently improves (i) connectivity outage / link continuity, (ii) user data reception throughput (or success rate), and (iii) target-area sensing coverage compared with representative baselines, while exhibiting superior adaptability under dynamic user distribution and link disruptions. Physical sciences/Engineering Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8771054","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":589578620,"identity":"9a868531-509d-48ed-af32-1abbb0f3f95a","order_by":0,"name":"Yuqun Yang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"XiZang University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yuqun","middleName":"","lastName":"Yang","suffix":""},{"id":589578623,"identity":"50f0a909-2715-48c2-a762-b9906c8fd1b2","order_by":1,"name":"Yanxia Zhou","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA9ElEQVRIie3PMWrDMBSA4ScMmtQ0o4IhvoJFoGTwYZ4QKEsKGbPVEJCXHkC5hY/g1JAsPoC3uhQyJ3jxkCF2O3WRM3bQD0IS4kM8AJ/vf0aaS5zM+9383otxEgi71QugA8HHCA1ZVcqUAn2MRHb9wp+MXuWfO9NcO5hPaiTtxkGI1Wo5M8lrfiSZsAiLWY1BaF2DcHWohdEDMSFDkHmNNGCuQbhMuTTlKh7IDeFtlDCuPnhRlfhD+vExHiOcnZVIt1rsjzIT75qLffW1C10kytbi+xYn0aQ8nZsu6Q8ndWhdBKb499d+kdQFAJ4L97vP5/P54A7bO05tJgTdiAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"XiZang University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yanxia","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhou","suffix":""},{"id":589578624,"identity":"3010befc-7e3f-4321-b01e-f4dd13f16bcb","order_by":2,"name":"Zhaba Zhaxi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Lhasa Public Security Bureau","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zhaba","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhaxi","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-03 05:08:25","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8771054/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8771054/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":104586559,"identity":"d37b2595-5111-47f7-a2b0-20882385fb41","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-13 15:55:37","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":367208,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"TemplateforsubmissionstoScientificReports2.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8771054/v1_covered_9ab40e7f-47cb-455f-b56e-234cebc78aff.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Distributed Multi-UAV MARL for Joint Relay Connectivity and Aerial Sensing in Post-Disaster Networks","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8771054/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8771054/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"In post-disaster scenarios where terrestrial communication infrastructure is partially damaged, a unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) swarm must jointly maintain end-to-end connectivity while collecting uplink data from ground users and performing aerial imaging over designated target areas. 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